As the number of childhod vaccinations being required by states continues to increase, the number of parents who are saying, “No! Enough!” is increasing–slightly.
Through the 1980s the number of vaccines required for infants and young children quadrupled. A spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Thomas Saari, threatened in 2006, that the Academy projected one or two vaccines will be added each year for the next 10 years–to the some 20 the children are already subjected to.
As of 2005 the CDC recommended vaccinating against 11 diseases, and the AMA is aiming to vaccinate against 16 infectious diseases. All of this makes our very young children veritable depositories of chemicals.
No one is quite certain why, but as surely as we increased the number of vaccinations cases of autism among young children escalated from 1 in 10,000 in the early 1990s to 1 in 150 today. Certainly, nobody in the medical establishment admitted to the preservative used in vaccines to being the cause of autism, but the mercury preservative, thimerosal, was removed from all but the influenza vaccines.
Parents Have Power to Say “No”
Nineteen states have laws similar to a “conscientious objector” exemption for parents to want to opt out of vaccines for their children. Less than one percent of school-age children in each state have exemptions, according to a NY Times report this month, but the numbers are going up.
And the number of parents paying attention to this had better rise as the number of innoculations is increasing just as the pediatrician threatened three years ago. This year state lawmakers in New Jersey approved requiring two more shots for preschoolers: flu and pneumonia and two more for sixth graders: meningitis and a booster against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. In January, New York started requiring pneumonia vaccine for preschool children in day care (and mandatory flu shots for them is under consideration) and the DPT booster shot for sixth graders. Health officials in Connecticut are considering a whole slough of shots for preschoolers and school-age children including flu and Hepatitis A.
Who’s Lobbying for these Laws?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes advisories for the public, yes, based upon studies and reports from the physicians and the pharmaceutical companies. But the CDC doesn’t lobby state legislators to mandate that the population do this or do that. Who gains from this broadscale vaccination of sections of the population? We know the answer to this–the pharmaceutical companies. There are more pharma lobbyists in Washington, DC, than there are Congressional representatives. And they’re in the State capitols as well.
Viruses Mutate–Shots Aren’t Effective
In late February a CDC advisory panel recommended that all children ages 6 months to 18 years receive an annual influenza shot. Members of the panel must have been blinded by the $$ signs to not see the reports also out last month that this year’s flu shot is 44 percent effective against the viruses circulating this flu season. The effectiveness in other years has been lower (28%) and higher, but there are always side-effects–like getting the flu! The virus changes gradually as it circulates (genetic drift) among people. So shots are more likely to cause side-effects than to actually prevent flu.
For flu shots the emphasis (marketing target) has always been on the elderly and infirm. They were at greatest risks, we’ve always been told. However, despite all the years of flu vaccines, the number of hospitalizations and deaths associated with influenza had continued to rise in recent years (NYT, 6/6/06). It seems the elderly are at high risk for complications and death, so now let’s focus on the youngest set. In fact, a NY Times editorial thought innoculating the entire population was a good idea. That writer hasn’t heard it yet: THE SHOTS DON’T WORK.
Neither does the vaccination for pneumonia work. A recent study showed that if you had the shot you were less likely to die of complications from the disease than those who hadn’t had the vaccination. But you still got pneumonia! In 2003, a study tracking 47,000 subjects over age 65 for four years concluded pnemonia vaccination didn’t reduce the risk of pneumonia. Now clinical trials of drugs with infants and young children is rarely, if ever, done–it feels immoral? But these vaccinations will make the entire generation a pharmaceutical trial.
Disease-care, not Health-care
The whole approach of continually seeking yet another drug or vaccine for yet another virus or bacteria, etc. is sick itself. The approach is focusing on the sickness or the disease; it’s disease-care instead of health-care. The American population (directed by total reliance on MDs who are partners with the pharmaceutical companies) has lost sight of what health means–it’s wellness and balance. The body, left unto itself and given correct nutrition, is a remarkable organism and will heal itself.
I was reminded of this by a veterinarian who I took an injured pet rabbit to for medical attention. Hearing the cost of what I thought would be minor surgery, I asked, “What will happen if we don’t do this surgery?” She answered, “It (part of the paw) will just fall off and heal itself.” It was a Eureka! moment. And she instructed me on wound care to avoid infection.
The viruses mutate and new ones reveal themselves in populations, and governments spend billions of dollars researching vaccines for pandemics that are unlikely to occur. The sane, sensible, and only safe way to prepare ourselves for whatever comes our way–whether it’s sneezes at the nearby desk or on the commuter train or transported via planes–is by strengthening our immune system. With a strong immune system whatever bug is going around, goes around you.
My daughter noticed this after she been taking Ban Lan Gen tea (Chinese herbal usually for change-in-seasons) for reoccuring serious respiratory infections. “Everyone around me is sneezing or coughing, has a cold, and I don’t even feel a twinge,” she said. She hasn’t had bronchitis or a cold in four years. The immune system was bolstered.
A new study sponsored by the USDA recruited residents from 33 nursing homes to test the effects of daily nutritional supplements on incidents of pneumonia and use of antibiotics. The researchers concluded, “Zinc supplementation to maintain normal serum zinc concentrations in the elderly may help reduce the incidence of pneumonia and associated moribidity.” So there’s an alternative to a pneumonia shot–and known to work! As HSI’s Jenny Thompson says, we may see Haley’s Comet again before we see another government-sponsored report recommending nutritional supplements.
Parent Power
To find a coalition of parents concerned about vaccinations in your country or state see the website below. This is a concern world-wide.
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/groups.html
As adults, we make our own choices, and we have to live with the consequences. Children don’t have a choice, either of the foods they’re fed or medicines they’re given. It should be a conscious, educated decision of the parents, not the state’s decision by default.
Salud!
Beverly Jensen, Ph.D.
President, www.WomensMedicineBowl.com
